I received this letter last night from a resident of Ward 2 that I met a few months back while knocking on doors for the campaign. He’s a kind and warm artist – a great neighbor, and part of what makes Somerville amazing and beautiful.

Hello JT,

Remember me?

Since we met in the Spring, I’ve had a sadly typical Somerville experience: my lease ends on July 31 and my landlady won’t renew my lease; she’s going to flip the apartment, jack the rent, and get new tenants in here.

The current rent on this 2-bedroom apartment is $1,650.00. The realtor convinced my landlady to raise this to $2,200! Some lucky couple will get to pay that amount for the realtor fee, plus their first and last month’s rent. 

I don’t have $6,600 on hand to keep my apartment so I’m being displaced. A friend in Arlington is letting me stay with her for a couple of months. After that, I’m not certain I’ll stay in town. I need time to ponder this.

Somerville needs rent control. The city needs to provide housing that creative people can afford. So many friends have been driven out to Watertown and Arlington. Or Plymouth, New Bedford, and Providence, RI.

I hope very much that you can get elected. I hope very much that when you do, you will do something about the obscene housing market in Somerville. PorchFest is a cute celebration of our artist community. What about the rest of the year? I’m not feeling the love from City Hall.

This is what people are facing all over the city – as he says, an all too typical experience. We have to do better to keep Somerville’s residents in their homes and make it affordable for all of us to live here.

This is why I’m running. This is why I need your help to get elected.

Can you help him find an affordable apartment in Ward 2? Get in touch. Can you help me get elected so that I can fight for all of us? Get in touch. We have to work together to make this happen.